Bishop Greg Brewer and the Rev. Charlie Holt will be among the keynote speakers April 19-21 when Positively Evangelical: the 2017 EFAC-USA Conference is held at Canterbury Retreat & Conference Center in Oviedo.
The three-day event offers attendees the opportunity to meet evangelicals from across the country, discuss plans and be inspired as well as hear notable speakers and worship the Lord. Attendees will sing under the lively direction of Josh Head, director of music at Grace Episcopal Church in Ocala.
Last year’s conference drew representatives from 15 dioceses and four speakers for a three-day event at the Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, according to the EFAC (Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion)-USA website.
This year, Brewer, who oversees the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida, and Holt, rector at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Lake Mary, will speak on Day 2. According to the event’s official program, Brewer will speak at 9:15 a.m. on “Recruiting for the Church of the Future That Is Needed Right Now.”
At 4 p.m. Holt will give a talk entitled: “Encouraging Lay People in Evangelism.” Additionally, Head will speak at 1 p.m. on “Shared Vision: Collaboration for a Thriving Music Ministry.”
“This is the third year for this iteration of the EFAC conference,” said EFAC spokesperson Zac Neubauer. “Our main goal remains the same: to gather evangelicals in the Episcopal and Anglican churches for networking, prayer, Bible study, worship and mutual encouragement in gospel ministry, both as lay and ordained ministers of the gospel.
“We’ve gone from 40 folks from four or five dioceses in 2015 to 65 from 15 different dioceses in 2016,” Neubauer said. “We hope that this year we will expand our reach to encourage even more evangelicals.”
Other speakers include: the Very Rev. Andrew C. Pearson Jr., dean of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama; Dr. Phil Harrold, former professor at Trinity School for Ministry; and the Rev. Ethan Magness, rector of Grace Anglican Church in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.efac-usa.org with three options: $300 for the full conference with on-site accommodations in a single room plus meals; $260 for the full conference with on-site accommodations in a double room plus meals; and $150, commuter rate for the April 19 session only without accommodations but with coffee at breaks and meals.
“We’re blessed this year to have Canterbury hosting us,” Neubauer said. “Having been there for my BACAM (Bishop’s Advisory Committee on Aspirants to the Ministry), I know that it is a great place to gather. We’re reaching out this year not only to evangelical Episcopalians, but also other evangelicals in the Anglican tradition, and our set of speakers reflects that. We’re structuring the talks around our five goals, and every person speaking is the perfect one to be doing their talk, in my opinion.”
Neubauer said the five goals are:
- To encourage and provide training for biblical preaching and teaching in the Episcopal and Anglican churches.
- To foster fellowship among evangelicals in the Anglican and Episcopal churches and to promote cooperation among all who recognize the ultimate authority of Scripture in matters of faith and practice.
- To teach and practice evangelism as biblical priority.
- To foster liturgy and worship consistent with the gospel.
- To encourage committed, gifted evangelicals to enter full-time ministry and to support and encourage them during their training and first placement.
Contact Neubauer at zac@efac-usa.org for more information.